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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23968945">One Last Heist</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalThespian/pseuds/DigitalThespian'>DigitalThespian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coffee Dad Sakura Sojiro, Computer Programming, Computer-Savvy Persona 5 Protagonist, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Letters, Mild Spoilers, Persona 5 Protagonist &amp; Sakura Futaba Are Siblings, Post-Canon, Programming Jargon, Sakura Sojiro Adopts Persona 5 Protagonist, Team Mom Nijima Makoto, Team as Family, Theoretical Programming Language</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:14:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23968945</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalThespian/pseuds/DigitalThespian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe thinks it got the last laugh.<br/>The universe didn't count on Futaba Sakura; because Futaba is a Phantom Thief, and to a Phantom Thief, doing the impossible is just another Tuesday night.</p><p>A series of scenes in which Futaba interacts with all the Thieves, and a story is told.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Sakura Futaba/Togo Hifumi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>One Last Heist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I use non-standard fonts in this one; while it works alright without, for the 'intended experience' you'll need to download this font: (none of the default cursive fonts are any good). I try to have fallbacks to pre-installed fonts for most platforms, so if anything shows up weird let me know!</p><p>https://www.dafont.com/fake-serif.font (this is a calligraphy looking one; worth checking out anyway, imo)<br/>I'd just use the include-source css command to make it automagically appear with no effort on your part, but AO3 doesn't allow that to be used that way, presumably because there aren't enough security professionals in the world to deal with all the bullshit in <em>that</em> can of worms.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"One last thing; can I make <em>changes</em> to the Meta-Nav?"</p><p>Caroline's baton clanged against the bars. "What, is what our master gave you not good enough, <em>inmate</em>?"</p><p>Akira held up his hands. "Whoa, easy, Caroline. Don't you think your master has better things to do than keeping track of the day-to-day needs of a lowly inmate? I have things I want to add or change to make my life easier; so I'm asking if I can do it myself so I don't have to waste his time with something so trivial. But at the same time I didn't want to go rooting around in there without asking."</p><p>She didn't respond for a moment. "..I suppose that's very mindful of you."</p><p>"Yes, Trickster; you may modify the Metaverse Navigator, should you devise a means to do so. It is no regular application, after all."</p><p>"Awesome. Thanks," He waved casually as he left.</p><p>Justine bowed slightly. "Farewell, Trickster."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Alright Futaba," Akira sat on her bed, setting an extra wireless keyboard on his lap. "Let's do this. What do you need me to do?"</p><p>"Go through and find every single input field you possibly can. I'm talking check boxes, text, lists, <em>anything</em>."</p><p>"Uh.. I think it's just the basic UI and voice commands."</p><p>"Hmm.." Futaba's head shot up, and she snickered darkly. "Ooh, that might work."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"So wait, you're telling me that you and Futaba stayed up all night working so you could <em>back up</em> the Meta-Nav?"</p><p>"I mean, it also gave Futaba access to the raw byte code for the Meta-Nav—which is apparently some weird unique coding language that isn't even text-based? Regardless, this will give her the elbow room with the Nav she needs to pull off our Akechi phone stunt."</p><p>"Ah, that makes much more sense. My apologies, Akira."</p><p>"You're forgiven, Makoto. You're just looking out for us, and we appreciate it."</p><p>"T-thank you."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"So the Metaverse is just.. <em>gone</em>, huh?"</p><p>"Seems that way."</p><p>Futaba thumped a fist on the table. "Well I don't <em>care</em> what the universe thinks; I'm getting Mona back!"</p><p>"How are you going to do that?" Haru was leaning in, hope clearly written in her eyes.</p><p>"I still have the backup we made of the Meta-Nav. So what if there isn't a compiler? I'll just have to <em>write</em> one."</p><p>Most of the room looked at her at varying points along the "what the hell did she just say" to "just smile and nod" spectrum of confusion. Akira excepted, of course; but also rather surprisingly, <em>Ryuji</em>.</p><p>"Aw man, that's gonna be <em>impossible</em>! Well, not for you, because you don't really give a crap about that kinda thing, but <em>damn</em>," He shook his head in amazement. "This is some Rosetta Stone shit, but it's going the other way! Like.. <em>Making</em> a Rosetta Stone? Ooh, a <em>Futablet</em>!"</p><p>The room was stunned by the mood whiplash of Ryuji giving an excellent metaphorical summary of what a compiler was, and then <em>immediately</em> making a pun—albeit a clever one. "..I'm absolutely naming the compiler that, and also yeah, that's pretty much exactly how hard this is gonna be. Like if you had to perfectly rewrite the Rosetta Stone, except you didn't know <em>any</em> of the languages."</p><p>"Ugh, that sounds awful. Godspeed Futaba. We believe in you." Ann summed up the feelings of the group fairly well.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"How's it goin' sis?"</p><p>"I have a passable pre-bake compiler; it does absolutely nothing, like, the libraries and code structure foundation just aren't there, so none of the commands <em>do</em> anything, but it <em>does</em> compile the Nav. Just.. really, <em>really</em> badly. But it's a start."</p><p>"Pre-bake?"</p><p>"That means it compiles the entire thing upfront, which for something like this means the end application will be way bigger. In this case, based on the original vs uncompiled sizes, I'd guess a completely pre-baked, functional Meta-Nav would be somewhere around 807 terabytes."</p><p>"Sweet <em>jesus</em>."</p><p>"Yeah that's why this is only a test compiler to figure out some of the nuances; I'm gonna have to figure out how to get this damn thing to compile at runtime."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Futaba, dear?"</p><p>"'Sup 'koto?" Futaba's mouth was full, which was honestly kind of surprising.</p><p>"I.. actually came to bring you food, but you seem to have—hey, wait, that's the food I brought <em>last</em> time!"</p><p>"Uh, yeah? What about it?"</p><p>"That was <em>two days ago</em>!"</p><p>"...Whoops."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>A paper airplane hit Futaba in the back of the head. "Aah!" She whirled. "Who's there!"</p><p>She heard footsteps walking away down the hall, and after a moment she could tell it was Inari just from the cadence. She picked up the paper airplane, unfolding it to find a typed letter.</p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="book">
  <p class="monoFontRetro">Most Honored Gremlin,</p>
  <p class="monoFontRetro">I am pleased to invite you to the many-th weekly Phantom Thieves evening hotpot. It is with baited breath that we all eagerly await the moment we shall be graced with your presence.</p>
  <p class="monoFontRetro">Because while we too miss Morgana,</p>
  <p class="monoFontRetro">We also miss you.</p>
  <p class="monoFontRetro">With love,</p>
  <p class="yusukeCursive">Esteemed Shitlord</p>
</div><p>Inari had signed the letter by hand, clearly.</p><p>Futaba giggled, even as a tear hit the page.</p><p>He used a mono-spaced font just for her; Inari <em>hated</em> mono-spaced fonts.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Hey," Futaba chuckled. "Sorry, I've been.. Well, I've been stuck for a while now, and it's starting to get to me, because I've never <em>had</em> that problem with computers," She took a deep breath. "And I've been getting obsessed. I appreciate all of you looking out for me."</p><p>"What are friends for, right?" Ryuji patted the seat beside him. "C'mon, come bitch about your coding project! I'm even the right color!" He pointed at his hair, and the Sakura siblings laughed, while everyone else was—yet again—totally lost.</p><p>Akira rolled his eyes, despite his grin. "The joke in the tech world is if you explain your code to a rubber duck, step by step, it will almost always lead to a part where you go 'wait, shit, that's not how that's supposed to work!' and boom, problem changed."</p><p>"Because you never truly fix problems in computers, you just.. move them around." Futaba sat down, grabbing a bowl. "So. I wanna know who wrote this damn language to begin with. I just wanna talk."</p><p>"There's honestly a solid chance that it was Yaldy, so at least you can be happy knowing we shot him in the face over it?"</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Futaba-chan, darling?"</p><p>"Whatever it is it was Akira's idea," Futaba didn't look up from her work.</p><p>Akira sat up sharply from where he had been laying on Futaba's bed. "Hey! <em>At least</em> half of them are your idea."</p><p>Haru giggled. "You two are so precious," She walked over by the bed. "No, I just wanted you to know I'm borrowing your brother! I didn't want you to hop out of 'The Zone' and not know where he went!" She moved Akira's laptop off to the side, then scooped him up.</p><p>He made no effort to do anything about Haru bridal carrying him out of the room. He knew better by now. "Welp. I guess this is my life now. Goodbye, Most Honored Gremlin."</p><p>"Sometimes I can still hear my Hobgoblin's voice," Futaba sighed dramatically.</p><p>"<em>Ouch</em>."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Hello Futaba."</p><p>Futaba yelped, spinning in her chair. "O-Oh! Hey Hifumi-senpai!"</p><p>Hifumi giggled behind a hand. "Futaba, you <em>can</em> call me Hifumi, remember?"</p><p>"It just feels <em>weird</em>," Futaba gestured vaguely. "Like, I know Haru and Makoto are older than you, and I know it's a double standard, but like.. The only reason I can call them Haru and Makoto is because we have been in literal mortal danger with us relying on each other; it would almost be weird <em>not</em> to at this point."</p><p>"..That's understandable."</p><p>"Yeeep."</p><p>There was an awkward pause.</p><p>"..May I still call you Futaba?"</p><p>"Yes please—" She answered a little too quickly, and coughed in an attempt to hide her over-eagerness. "I mean—sure, if you want."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"So."</p><p>The lone syllable from her brother struck fear into Futaba's heart; nothing good <em>ever</em> followed that opening. "Oh no."</p><p>"What's this I hear about you having an enormous crush on 'Hifumi-senpai'?"</p><p>"Akira I swear to god."</p><p>"I shot him; try again," Akira grinned.</p><p>She barked out a laugh. "Okay, fair."</p><p>"Well? I'm your big brother, I have a sacred duty to tease the living hell out of you over this. And also wingman like hell, because our bond as Thieves is just as strong as siblings, and we were Thieves first; I couldn't pass up a chance to relive the glory days," He leaned on the counter with a smug grin. "So, what's the plan to steal Hifumi's heart, Oracle?"</p><p>"The 'glory days' were only two years ago."</p><p>"You're dodging the question."</p><p>"And I will continue to do so."</p><p>"Alright, alright. I'll keep it to myself until you're ready, or until you've been stalling too long."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Ann squealed. "Oh, that's so <em>cute</em>! When are you going to tell her?!"</p><p>"..Tell her?"</p><p>Ann gasped. "You can't <em>not</em> tell her, you would be so cute together! Besides, she would be <em>way</em> into you."</p><p>"I mean, if you say so."</p><p>"So you're gonna tell her, right?"</p><p>"Erm.."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"..Why am <em>I</em> the one being consulted on this matter?" Yusuke tilted his head. "Would it not be more effective to seek advice from one of the others? Ann, perhaps? Or maybe Akira?"</p><p>"That would be so <em>embarrassing</em>, though.."</p><p>"I suppose those two are the teasing sort. Very well, then. So; let us begin with the context. Does her behavior imply that she is interested in you romantically?"</p><p>"If I could tell <em>that</em> we wouldn't be <em>having</em> this conversation, Inari."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Er, Makoto? ..Do you still have the spare key to Futaba's apartment?"</p><p>"..<em>Why</em>?"</p><p>"I.. I intend to try to woo Futaba by planting flowers in her room with a letter professing my feelings, because I am far too nervous to do it in person."</p><p>"That's very sweet; but it also seems like it has the potential to go wrong. Don't you think this is a bit too.. cliched? I'm not against it, exactly, but I also want to avoid any big misunderstandings."</p><p>"As a gesture of good faith, I will let you read the letter, and you may judge if it is acceptable..?"</p><p>Makoto let out a soft noise of surprise. "Oh! I'm honored that you would trust me with something so important to you. I can agree to those terms." She took the proffered letter, lips moving slightly as she read.</p><p>Her eyebrows slowly raised as she went, and she blushed slightly. "I apologize for doubting you. This is <em>perfect</em>," She handed it back, then fished a key ring out of her bag, plucking one key off and handing it over as well. "You have my blessing as second-in-command of the Phantom Thieves."</p><p>"..Is that a keyring of spare keys to the Thieves' apartments?"</p><p>"...Be sure to bring that key back as soon as possible. She needs it the most often of all of us."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"<em>INARI!"</em></p><p>Yusuke nearly dropped his phone. "Goodness, Futaba, what's the matter?"</p><p>"<em>I'm freaking out! I don't know what to do, and—"</em></p><p>He was already headed out the door. "I will be there in ten minutes."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"You said there was a letter attached?"</p><p>Futaba handed it over wordlessly; her face was approximately the same color as her hair.</p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="book">
  <p class="hifumiCursive">I may not be "one of you", but I wanted to experience the thrill of stealing into an inner sanctum for myself. I have left you this bouquet as a parting gift; a token of my gratitude. Not for the events leading to you reading this note, as fun as this has been.</p>
  <p class="hifumiCursive">No, I leave you these things to thank you for the thrill I feel every time I see you; the joy I experience when I get to see you jump and dance around excitedly after conquering a particularly difficult challenge. I leave you these things as thanks for the privilege of watching you do something you're passionate about; for that determined fire that I see in your eyes when you set your mind to something.</p>
  <p class="hifumiCursive">I leave you these things in the hopes that I might emulate the feat that you all became so beloved for; you stole the hearts of evildoers, and won the hearts of the public. You have even stolen my heart, Futaba Sakura, and have left me no choice but to leave a calling card of my own; I cannot leave such a challenge unanswered, and so I will return.</p>
  <p class="hifumiCursive">I will do everything in my power to see this goal accomplished. Because your heart, my dear?</p>
  <p class="hifumiCursive">Your heart is a heart worth stealing.</p>
</div><p> </p><p>"This is.. very unambiguous. I will admit, I feel rather silly rushing over; but I suppose it is better to have come and not be needed, than be needed and not have come. Shall I take my leave so you may prepare yourself?"</p><p>"But what if it's not her? What if it's like, Mishima and he learned to be suave?!"</p><p>"..He didn't, rest assured. Besides, the last I'd heard he had moved in with a girl he met at a cinematography convention a year or so ago."</p><p>"So you're <em>sure</em> it's Hifumi-se—that it's Hifumi..?"</p><p>"I certainly believe that to be the case, yes."</p><p>"..Okay. Shoo!"</p><p>"Very well. I await your triumphant group chat keysmashing."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>There was a knock at the door, and Futaba shot six feet in the air from where she had curled herself up on the couch. She had agonized over whether she should change or not, and eventually decided on wearing her favorite outfit; it was a good look, it was comforting, and it was likely to be well received by anyone who knew her.</p><p>Hopefully.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Hifumi steeled herself, waiting at the door. She could only hope things went well.</p><p>..She had made it clear she was returning today, hadn't she? Oh dear.</p><p>What if Futaba wasn't home?</p><p>What if she wasn't expecting company and she made Futaba uncomfortable?</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Futaba took a deep breath, and walked up to the door.</p><p>And before she could chicken out, she yanked the door open.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Futaba was standing in the doorway, speechless.</p><p>Hifumi shifted nervously. Had she overdressed..? It <em>was</em> unusual for her to wear a dress, but it wasn't anything <em>too</em> fancy, she had thought..</p><p>Futaba swallowed. "Would.. Would you like to come in?"</p><p>Oh, thank goodness.</p><p>"I would indeed," She followed Futaba inside, and noticed immediately that she had actually mostly cleaned up the living room. Then she noticed the bouquet she had left in Futaba's room—in a vase that was far too wide, causing the arrangement to list alarmingly to one side. It wasn't in danger of falling, or anything; it was just endearing in a very <em>Futaba</em> sort of way. "I'm glad you liked the flowers."</p><p>"I love them." Futaba blushed, and Hifumi realized that, somehow, Futaba might be even more nervous than her. "..I <em>really</em> loved the letter."</p><p>"Ah, I.. I was a little worried it might be too much."</p><p>"<em>What</em>?! No way!" Futaba took her hands, and Hifumi felt her heart leap into her throat as she found herself face-to-face with the very intensity she had written so fondly about. "It was perfect. Thank you, Hifumi."</p><p>Whatever she had been feeling before was nothing in comparison to what it felt like to hear Futaba say her name—<em>just</em> her given name—like <em>that</em>. "I.. Of course," She collected herself enough to smile gently. "It makes me happy to hear you liked it so much."</p><p>"Your handwriting is so <em>pretty</em>, and your <em>word choices</em>, and the whole <em>Thieves</em> tie-in," Futaba beamed. "We should have been having <em>you</em> write our calling cards, you know how to make an <em>impact</em>! I mean, come on; '<em>I cannot leave such a challenge unanswered</em>'? '<em>Because your heart, my dear, is a heart worth stealing</em>'?!" She let her head fall back with a groan. "<em>God</em>, just take me now, amiright?"</p><p>Hifumi turned crimson. While that wasn't out of character in Futaba's day-to-day vernacular, she couldn't help but think about the connotations.</p><p>Then again..</p><p>She <em>did</em> seem to like the 'dashing thief swooping in to steal her heart' thing...</p><p>"Uh!" Futaba was standing ramrod straight, and she had turned just as red as Hifumi. "I—"</p><p>Hifumi took a small step forward, then another. "Is that so?"</p><p>They were very close now, and Hifumi slipped her arms around Futaba's waist, who squeaked. "Um. Yes?"</p><p>"Well, then," Hifumi leaned in to whisper in her ear. "..I think I could be persuaded."</p><p>Futaba let out a small shuddering breath, drawing Hifumi in closer.</p><p>"After all," Hifumi leaned back enough to kiss her gently. She pulled away after a few moments, winking. "Did I not come here to steal your heart?"</p><p>Futaba was speechless for a few moments. She blinked. "Yep; take me now."</p><p>Hifumi hadn't so much as taken a single step before Futaba held up a hand suddenly. "<em>Wait!</em> Sorry! I just remembered, normally it doesn't matter but for this it does: I've got this place wired to hell and back; if you don't want this getting recorded we can't do it here."</p><p>Hifumi looked at her with a wicked gleam in her eyes, before pushing her down on the couch. "I see nothing wrong with this, provided I get a copy too."</p><p>Then she kissed her. A lot.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="texting">
  <p>Futaba: kjhalkjgafdlkuf</p>
  <p>Yusuke: Ah, I see things went well.</p>
  <p>Haru: Congratulations, Futaba-chan!</p>
  <p>Akira: Told you.</p>
  <p>Futaba: Shut.</p>
  <p>Akira: Fair.</p>
  <p>Makoto: I'm happy for you, Futaba.</p>
  <p>Ann: YEAH</p>
  <p>Ryuji: HELL</p>
  <p>Ann: FKING</p>
  <p>Ann: YEAH</p>
  <p>Akira: Nice save, Ann.</p>
  <p>Ann: Thanks, though to be fair we have no idea why Ryuji's message took so long to send,</p>
  <p>Futaba: It's cause his phone sucks</p>
  <p>Ryuji: Yeah okay fair</p>
</div><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Forgive me if this isn't how computers work, but you mentioned that it was too big, correct? Couldn't you just.. compress it again?"</p><p>Futaba shook her head without looking away from the screen. "Nah, there's no way I could do that without losing data."</p><p>"Is that a problem? You've been saying you're getting sick of 'garbage collecting every five minutes', whatever that means; can't you just 'lose' <em>that</em> data?"</p><p>Futaba had frozen. "Hifumi."</p><p>"O-oh, I'm sorry.. I'll let you work."</p><p>Futaba whirled around, grabbing her by the shoulders and planting a kiss on her lips. "Hifumi, you are a goddamn <em><b>genius</b></em>!" She turned back around and began typing furiously, leaving a very surprised and confused Hifumi sitting on her bed.</p><p>"Thank you..?" Hifumi smiled softly to herself when Futaba didn't respond. She must have gotten quite the idea.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Futaba threw open the doors to LeBlanc. "My girlfriend is the greatest."</p><p>Akira started, then leaned on the counter with a hand to his chest. "You startled the hell out of me."</p><p>"I have a working prototype."</p><p>Akira's head shot up. "<em>Show me</em>."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"This.. this is fucking insane, how did you even <em>do</em> this? What is even going <em>on</em> here?! Why is the program constantly recycling data? <em>How</em> is it recycling data?!"</p><p>"It's so simple; but it flies in the face of everything about the way we do coding here in the real world. It's the mother of all object oriented languages; you know that meme that's like 'how many levels of irony are you on?' It's like that, honestly, except with encapsulation. Hifumi gave me the idea," Futaba grinned. "I compress things at compile-time like normal, but then during normal runtime it compresses parts of <em>itself</em>, but in a way that the losses are the data it doesn't need right then, and in doing so it kinda circles back around into doubling as a separate bitwise operation."</p><p>"Did you just invent a programming language that uses <em>lossy compression</em> for calculations instead of bits!?"</p><p>"Hell yeah I did! After I get this optimized it should be crunched down to 27 gigabytes."</p><p>"That's absolutely incredible," Akira shook his head. "I still can't believe what's going on here is even possible."</p><p>"Honestly neither can I, but I'm not about to let something petty like that get in between me and getting Mona back."</p><p>"..Thanks, sis."</p><p>She smiled. "Hang on, Mona."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Oww, my <em>head</em>.." He sat up, scratching his head. "What happened..?" It dawned on him that cats don't 'sit up'. He looked down in shock, only to find that he had the body of a young teenager. "<em>..I'm human..!</em>"</p><p>"<em>Futaba, you did it!!</em>"</p><p>"Way to go, Oracle!"</p><p>"<em>MONA!!</em>"</p><p>Morgana looked up in surprise to see the Thieves gathered around, jumping around and hugging each other with tears in their eyes; then his eyes widened just before a red-haired blur crashed into him, knocking him back to the ground. "<em>OOF</em>."</p><p>"<em>Monaaaaa~</em>," Futaba wailed. "You're back, I missed you <em>so much</em>."</p><p>Akira followed soon after, pulling them both into a hug, and before long the entire group was piled around Morgana in an enormous group hug. "Morgana, you're finally back..!"</p><p>"Wha? What <em>happened</em>? What do you mean finally, how long was I gone?!"</p><p>"You—wait, how long has it been for you?"</p><p>"What do you mean how long, we just beat Yaldabaoth, right..?"</p><p>There was a brief silence. "Oh thank god," Haru broke the silence. "I'd been so worried you were trapped all alone somewhere..!"</p><p>Ryuji ruffled his hair affectionately. "You never popped back out of the Metaverse, and then it-it disappeared," He sniffed, tears beginning to run down his cheeks. "You were g-gone for almost three years, man."</p><p>"<em>WHAT?!</em>"</p><p>"But you're back now, and I'm never letting you out of my sight ever again, mister!" Futaba scolded; though her hiccuping sobs took the bite out of her words.</p><p>"How—if it disappeared, how did..?"</p><p>Makoto smiled at him. "Oh, Futaba just re-built the Meta-Nav basically from scratch to get you back."</p><p>Akira grinned lopsidedly. "You know; typical impossible Phantom Thief bullshit."</p><p>There was a collective laugh. "You really are something special, dear."</p><p>Morgana was shocked. "Hifumi?!"</p><p>"It's nice to finally meet you properly, Morgana. I've heard a great deal about you."</p><p>"Y-you have?!" Morgana was rapidly turning bright red. "I-I mean, of course, why wouldn't you have," He finally processed what Hifumi had said earlier. "Wait, you and <em>Futaba</em>?!" He looked at her incredulously. "You can <em>talk</em> to people now?!"</p><p>Futaba bonked him on the head. "Yes, jackass! A lot's different after three years, so let's go back to LeBlanc and introduce you to Dad and we'll catch you up! I need curry after all this."</p><p>"Looks like <em>some</em> things never change, at least."</p><p>"Sort of; Akira owns LeBlanc now. Well, honestly Haru does, because she kinda owns Akira."</p><p>"Ryuji!" Makoto sounded scandalized, but Morgana just tilted his head.</p><p>"Wasn't that already true anyway?"</p><p>Futaba cackled. "Oh, <em>damn,</em> Morgana; <em>savage</em>."</p><p>Akira just shrugged. "If the shoe fits, wear it. I had enough of leading as Joker, I'm okay with just following nowadays."</p><p>Haru smiled gently. "And I had enough of not having control of my life under my father, so it's quite a lovely arrangement. We're both very happy."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Hey, kids, just in time—" Sojiro stopped short. "You have a new one. I thought that would have stopped happening after all that Phantom Thief business was settled," He looked over the group. "Also, where's Akira?"</p><p>"Akira needed to grab something."</p><p>Just as Makoto answered, Akira walked in. Sojiro snorted. "Every damn time, I swear the kid is just naturally dramatic."</p><p>Akira grinned. "So, we do introductions yet?"</p><p>Morgana shook his head. "Not yet. What were you even getting?"</p><p>Akira walked over and held out a yellow bandanna with a smile. "It just didn't feel right for you to not have it, so I got one for you."</p><p>Morgana took it slowly, looking at it, then back at Akira. Tears welled up in his eyes. "You're the <em>best</em>, Akira."</p><p>Akira pulled him into a hug. "Anytime, buddy."</p><p>Sojiro watched this in confusion. "What is going on here? Are they long lost brothers or something?"</p><p>"That's what the 'official story' is, actually. But you get the truth, since you already know about all our supernatural shenanigans." Ann gestured as though presenting him. "Sojiro; we'd like you to meet Morgana."</p><p>Morgana turned back around, smiling through his tears. "Nice to meet you for real, Chief. I don't know how they did it, but they finally helped me achieve my goal of becoming human again."</p><p>"If it was anyone but you lot I wouldn't believe it, but.."</p><p>"The very first time we met you were disappointed that you didn't get to name me." Morgana raised an eyebrow. "Which, by the way, <em>rude</em>."</p><p>Sojiro's jaw dropped, and the Thieves laughed. "How was <em>I</em> supposed to know?!" He got a thoughtful expression. "Though speaking of names, Morgana <em>is</em> typically a girl's name; are you going to keep it, or are you going to change your name now that you're human?"</p><p>He shrugged. "I was thinking if people gave me trouble over it I would just tell them I'm French."</p><p>Even Sojiro burst out laughing this time.</p><p>Morgana looked around with a smile at his friends; his <em>family</em>.</p><p>He had a place to belong; even before when he was a cat, he knew the Thieves would support him no matter what. But now? Now he had all the freedom in the world, and a family to support him when he encountered unfamiliar challenges. He had a brother and sister, even if they were both obnoxious sometimes. Or a lot of the time. But that was what it was like to have siblings, right?</p><p>Morgana looked around at everyone, laughing and chattering to each other, and felt at peace.</p><p>He was finally home.</p>
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